The late madrigals by Carlo Gesualdo stand at the pinnacle of the madrigal
repertoire of the decades around 1600. These pieces are highly complicated
and are characterised by frequent and strong dissonances and sudden
changes of emotion. These madrigals are beyond the capabilities of a
mainstream vocal ensemble. This is repertoire for a specialized ensemble
of highly-skilled singers.
The madrigals have also contributed to the picture of their composer.
He is often considered a maverick and even a madman, probably because
he killed his wife and her lover. It is considered not a coincidence
that the word "death" and everything that is connected to
it appears so frequently in the latest two books of madrigals. It is
easily overlooked that the connection between death and unhappy love
was quite fashionable at his time, and that the sixth book also includes
some light-hearted pieces, especially in the second half. In his liner-notes
Marco Bizzarini tries to put Gesualdo's life and work into a
more historical perspective.
Interestingly, he states that modern conceptions of Gesualdo are not
founded on historical sources. He refers to several of his contemporaries
who gave their opinion on his madrigals. There is no hint that they
considered him a madman. Two aspects return in most assessments of his
output: his mastery of counterpoint and the expressive character of
his madrigals. A writer praised his madrigals for "their great
refinement and their exquisite counterpoint". That doesn't
mean that their particular character was lost on his contemporaries.
Bizzarini refers to two testimonies which characterized them as "dissonant"
and "difficult".
There are some factors which could probably explain the particular character
of Gesualdo's madrigals. He was indeed a kind of maverick in
the sense that he, as a member of the aristocracy, was not supposed
to compose professionally. He wrote his madrigals for himself and his
circle. When the sixth book was printed, the name of the composer was
not on the frontispiece. It was only the dedication which revealed that
Gesualdo had written the madrigals. Bizzarini suggests that the texts
which he set to music were probably from his own pen, which could explain
the close connection between text and music. They are all anonymous,
though, and it is very likely that this has also to do with his social
status. A contemporary suggested that Gesualdo wanted to be different
from some of his colleagues, who liked to compose light and pleasant
madrigals, whereas Gesualdo had more affinity with Luzzasco Luzzaschi.
There could be another factor. Gesualdo's last madrigals date
from the time of the emergence of the
stile nuovo, propagated
by Giulio Caccini and others. The text should lie at the core and the
music should be its servant. To that end the advocates of the new style
preferred to compose pieces for solo voice and basso continuo. Gesualdo
never felt drawn to the new fashion; there’s not a single piece with
a basso continuo part. It could well be that with his madrigals he tried
to prove that it was perfectly possible to achieve a maximum of text
expression in the
stile antico and that a polyphonic madrigal
wasn't inferior to monody. If that was indeed the point he wanted
to make, he did so pretty convincingly as the two latest books of madrigals
prove.
The sixth book includes many examples of the way Gesualdo uses harmony
for expressive purposes. We hear not only dissonants, even though these
are the most notable aspects of these pieces, but also consonants. The
second madrigal,
Beltà, poi che t'assenti, includes
some of the strongest dissonants, on the words "la doglia del morire",
the pain of death. In the fourth madrigal,
Resta di darmo noia,
Gesualdo uses the sweetest consonants on the closing word, "felice"
(happy). Many madrigals are about contrasting emotions, such as
Moro,
lasso, al mio duolo, between the second and third lines: "the
person who can give me life, alas, kills me and does not want to give
me aid". These contrasts can appear even within a single line,
such as "I was dead; I am alive" (
Io parto, e non più
dissi). It is not just in the gloomy pieces where we find superior
examples of Gesualdo's skills in illustrating a text. The more
light-hearted pieces, such as
Già pansi nel dolore, are no
less impressive.
This is music which requires technical perfection, from individual singers
as well as from the ensemble. Not long ago I reviewed the first disc
of La Compagnia del Madrigale (
review)
which I designated
Recording of the Month. This disc deserves
the same distinction, as this is an example of superb madrigal singing.
The individual voices produce a beautiful sound, and their qualities
can be admired in the many short episodes for reduced forces. Their
voices also perfectly blend and intonation is impeccable. These are
absolute prerequisites in madrigals in which harmony is such a crucial
element. Another important feature of these performances is the differentiated
treatment of dynamics which is balanced and never exaggerated. Gesualdo
probably wanted to prove that the text can be given just as much attention
in a polyphonic composition as in a solo piece. This ensemble proves
him right: the delivery is outstanding and the nuances within the text
come off perfectly.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
